"Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases! For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men."
-Psalm 11, LXX
Hopefully, our first instinct after learning of the massacre on December 14, 2012 was to pray.
Within hours of the massacre in Connecticut, "journalists" throughout the news media marched in lockstep unto the anti-gun political bandwagon and called for more gun control as a solution to the problem of mass shootings (with stern faces and provocative language intended to project a strong image). [We try not to get too political here at St. Justin Martyr's Blog, but sometimes a commentary is warranted due to an issue's spiritual implications.] Their approach is indicative of the blindness of Post-Modern Western culture. To them, the blame for such events seems to lie with legalities and material objects. Tonight while attending Vespers, I contemplated the events of Friday in the quiet, prayerful space of the church. I realized that the answer's to these kinds of issues lay within the building I was occupying. Yes, we who celebrated Vespers had a gift given to us. The solution to this problem was before our very eyes, in the air, and in us.
The Church teaches that all human life is sacred. Human beings are created in the image and likeness of God, the same God who became incarnate for our salvation. We will soon be celebrating this incarnation and will recall the remarkable little child born two millennia ago. Needless to say, several families will not have their precious babies with them this Christmas. Their lives were taken as many others have been in similar events.
Evil is a real and present force in the world. Evil, being that which is devoid of God's grace, is a creation of ours, not God's. People are given the choice between good and evil, love or hate, God or Satan, Heaven or Hell. According to Scripture the "prince of this world" is Satan, and we often find ourselves prostrate before him. The fact that we are capable of feeling pain and suffering is evidence that something is wrong in our world. The fact that wrongness itself exists is evidence that our world is fallen, and that God has been rejected. The individual who took those lives at an elementary school chose evil; he chose hate, he chose Satan, he chose Hell.
The sanctity of human life is a key element of the Christian ethic-despite what Atheist apologists might claim. Human life is valued, respected, and loved. In today's society, the sanctity of human life is threatened. The general moral malaise that has overcome the Western World clouds the judgement of everyone, and devalues the valuable. Each one of the mass shootings that has occurred in recent memory was committed by an individual who did not value human life. The shooter in this case had 27 opportunities to spare human life.
In the end, the perpetrator even ended his own life. This demonstrates beyond any doubt that life in general was devalued, maligned, and neglected in his mind. He didn't even spare his own life. What does this say about our culture? What does this say in light of other similar massacres? There have been murderers throughout history, but the mass shootings we have seen in recent memory seem to be an epidemic. Perhaps we Americans ought to reassess our culture and what values we hold as a people. The answers are within our reach. If only we would take the opportunity to celebrate life and seek out true morals, we could eliminate such events.
Let us look to the Source of life for our answers about life.
"In Him [God] was life, and the life was the light of men."
-John 1:4
-Psalm 11, LXX
Hopefully, our first instinct after learning of the massacre on December 14, 2012 was to pray.
Within hours of the massacre in Connecticut, "journalists" throughout the news media marched in lockstep unto the anti-gun political bandwagon and called for more gun control as a solution to the problem of mass shootings (with stern faces and provocative language intended to project a strong image). [We try not to get too political here at St. Justin Martyr's Blog, but sometimes a commentary is warranted due to an issue's spiritual implications.] Their approach is indicative of the blindness of Post-Modern Western culture. To them, the blame for such events seems to lie with legalities and material objects. Tonight while attending Vespers, I contemplated the events of Friday in the quiet, prayerful space of the church. I realized that the answer's to these kinds of issues lay within the building I was occupying. Yes, we who celebrated Vespers had a gift given to us. The solution to this problem was before our very eyes, in the air, and in us.
The Church teaches that all human life is sacred. Human beings are created in the image and likeness of God, the same God who became incarnate for our salvation. We will soon be celebrating this incarnation and will recall the remarkable little child born two millennia ago. Needless to say, several families will not have their precious babies with them this Christmas. Their lives were taken as many others have been in similar events.
Evil is a real and present force in the world. Evil, being that which is devoid of God's grace, is a creation of ours, not God's. People are given the choice between good and evil, love or hate, God or Satan, Heaven or Hell. According to Scripture the "prince of this world" is Satan, and we often find ourselves prostrate before him. The fact that we are capable of feeling pain and suffering is evidence that something is wrong in our world. The fact that wrongness itself exists is evidence that our world is fallen, and that God has been rejected. The individual who took those lives at an elementary school chose evil; he chose hate, he chose Satan, he chose Hell.
The sanctity of human life is a key element of the Christian ethic-despite what Atheist apologists might claim. Human life is valued, respected, and loved. In today's society, the sanctity of human life is threatened. The general moral malaise that has overcome the Western World clouds the judgement of everyone, and devalues the valuable. Each one of the mass shootings that has occurred in recent memory was committed by an individual who did not value human life. The shooter in this case had 27 opportunities to spare human life.
In the end, the perpetrator even ended his own life. This demonstrates beyond any doubt that life in general was devalued, maligned, and neglected in his mind. He didn't even spare his own life. What does this say about our culture? What does this say in light of other similar massacres? There have been murderers throughout history, but the mass shootings we have seen in recent memory seem to be an epidemic. Perhaps we Americans ought to reassess our culture and what values we hold as a people. The answers are within our reach. If only we would take the opportunity to celebrate life and seek out true morals, we could eliminate such events.
Let us look to the Source of life for our answers about life.
"In Him [God] was life, and the life was the light of men."
-John 1:4
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